BAJA BC

That picture was taken about ten years ago; you can use it to estimate my current state of decrepitude. I use that to justify the current blog. As you may know, Nick Zentner is planning a series of live-stream lectures on the subject of “Baja BC”, a geological hypothesis often credited to, or blamed on, me. I gave you a bum steer the other day: if you want to watch all 26 episodes, tune into Nick’s UTube channel Wednesdays at 2:00 pm. Saturdays at 9:00 am. The series starts Wednesday, November 16, and features my co-conspirator, Linda Noson. As they used to say in the dark ages of my youth – be there or be square!

NICK ZENTNER PROCEDES APACE

Nick Zentner is about to embark on a 26-part investigation of the “Baja BC” hypothesis, of which I am one of the fathers – or perpetrators, according to some. My crappy eyesight, general cyber-ineptitude, and reluctance to travel prevents me from being more than peripherally involved, although Nick may bounce a question off me from time to time. Still, it promises to be fun. The first session will be next Tuesday, at 9:00 am. Just Google Nick and go from there.

REALLY TOUGH GUYS

Now here’s a stupid question. If you had to walk down an alley in Brooklyn one dark and stormy night, which would, you most want by your side, John Wayne or Clint Eastwood? That amounts to asking, who do you think was the tougher guy, the Duke or Dirty Harry? I told you this going to be stupid. I choose the Duke, by a whisker. This admittedly moronic question arises because I have recently watched two Westerns, The Searchers – reputed to be the best Western of all time - and The Unforgiven, often named its close competitor. I will report on that research soon, but for now I wonder what you think. Please comment. Of course, the Terminator would be your best bet, but that’s not fair. He’s not human. But of course the best choice

GOLDEN OLDIE 88: The Searchers

A few months ago I “reviewed” the cowboy flic Open Range, and confidently asserted that it was the best Western ever concocted. Then I set out to find justification for that assessment; I Googled “Best Western Movies in Order. There were many lists, as you might imagine. Much to my surprise, Open Range didn’t appear on any of them. But, said I – these were film critics talking: what do they know, right? However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that, heading almost all lists was The Searchers. So last night I watched it. Wow! For once the critics got it right. I still think that Open Range is a darned good movie, maybe even a great one. But Searchers is better. So it is a John Ford, John Wayne movie, filmed in Monument Valley but supposed to depict events in Texas – so what? And, yes, the Indians with talking parts are mostly Italians, the rest being Navajo, not “Comanch”. Say what you will, the scenery, and the background music, make this film offering sore. It is so good I may watch it again tonight! And will there ever be an actor better suited for a role loke this than John Wayne? That’ll be the day! A

GOLDEN OLDIE 87:Silverado

This little Oldie turned out to be something of a disappointment. Given the cast, I had high hopes: from memory Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Scott Glen, Rosanna Arquette, Jeff Goldblum, Linda Hunt (yes, she is 4 Ft 9 in tall – or was), and even British comedian John Cleese, With all those noteworthy actors, how could it all go wrong? Well, I think the problem is that Silverado could never figure out what it was: stock western, comedy, stock revenge flic, or a messy mishmash of all three. In the end it sort of lost its way. C+ Danny Glover was very effective,

an important question

Okay, you might think that I would know the answer to this question, but I don’t. Why is it that every map of Cordilleran accreted terranes depicts them, by and large, as highly elongate, often discontinuous, strips? Surely these terranes were plastered onto the western edge of North America by processes that involved subduction. It seems to be generally accepted that a subduction zone can swallow up normal oceanic crust, especially easily if it’s cold enough, but that thickened oceanic crust often sticks in its craw, so to speak. That is, it clogs the trench, possibly causing the trench to jump “outboard” thereby transferring the accreted block to the continent and forming an “exotic terrane” Right? So, in general thickened chunks of oceanic crust seem to be of two general sorts: volcanic arcs and oceanic plateaus. The first are elongate, the second roughly equidimensional. Cordilleran accreted terranes tend to be string beans. Does that mean that most, or all, of them were originally arcs? Or, as I have always assumed, were many – most?-of them roughly equant blobs that were attenuated post-accretion by dextral shear? Hawaii, or Iceland? Or, obviously, both?

GOLDEN OLDIE 86: Little shop of horrors

Oh. Did I say it’s a musical? Sort of. B Now here is something REALLY peculiar! Little Shop, released in 1986, is a MUSICAL about an extra terrestrial plant (it calls itself a “mean green motha from outer space) that lands in Brooklyn, of all places, with intent to take over the earth. It is thwarted by Rick Moranis, cheered on by Ellen Greene. Steve Martin plays the kind of dentist we all had nightmares about as kids, and Levi Stubbs voices the plant, in a dialect that probably would get him in trouble now. Pretty good – but peculiar. B. Note: I wrote a long, detailed review of this flic, but then lost it. I am too disgruntled to do it over.